According to an official press release of 29 December 2014 of theNational Bank of Belarus, as of 30 December 2014 the temporary tax rate on foreign exchange purchases by "physical and judicial persons" has been decreased from 30% to 20%.On 19 December 2014 the National Bank of Belarus had introduced a temporary fee at the amount of 30% on the purchase of foreign currency by legal and natural persons (see related measure). The stated reason is the increased demand for foreign currency on the domestic currency exchange market.